Donald Leney

In carp fishing circles, the name Donald Leney reverberates like the ripples from the crash of a fifty pounder – yet he himself was no angler. Instead, Leney was a fish farmer, working for a Surrey trout farm, when he travelled to the Netherlands and hand picked a strain of Galician carp to bring back to England.

These fish were long bodied and richly coloured, and Leney had a good eye. He selected the fastest growing and best proportioned carp from each year class which he then proceeded to stock into a variety of waters across England and Wales.

Surely his most famous stocking was made into Redmire Pool (see Places we Like), though the ‘Leney Strain’ found its way into other noted waters such as Savay and Frensham. These fish have been extraordinarily long lived, with some specimens believed to have reached 70 years in age. Such is Leney’s legacy, that rumours and counter rumours regarding potential stockings remain to this day. Surely no other non-fisherman has had such an impact on carp angling…